Woman who blocked neighbor from entering says she was motivated by safety, not racism

The woman in the video that has drawn national attention said Tuesday that she blocked her neighbor motivated by safety, not racism. Hillary Thornton said she was doing what the condo board asks all residents to do for safety.

In an interview that aired Tuesday on Fox 2, Thornton said: “When I noticed an individual that I did not know, my only intent was to follow the directions that I had been given by our condo association board members, repeatedly, and that is to never allow access to any individual you do not know.”

The viral video was shot by D’Arreion Toles, an African American man who was blocked access to his condo by Thornton. The video shows Thornton standing at the entry door with a dog on a leash, blocking him and asking what unit he lives in during one of three videos Toles posted to Facebook.

She said that she asked Toles if he had a key fob to open the door and he didn’t replay. “He would not show me one,” Thornton said.

Thornton says Toles forced his way past her to get inside the building, something she says was not captured on the videos he posted. “There was an altercation at the front door and that’s how he got in the front door,” she said.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Toles said in an emailed statement on Monday night that he was “accosted, harassed and stalked” by Thornton, who “got in my face, demanded to see my key fob, and proceeded to berate me and harass me for merely trying to go home after a long day of work.”

But Thornton stands by her actions. “I do not think that I did anything wrong,” she said. “I upheld what they asked of me to its fullest extent.”

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